Heroes and Agents
by Rylee87
Summary: One year ago, Kayla Matthews retired from being a field agent and took up teaching. She thought she was happy, but when she gets a visitor saying the tesseract has been stolen Kayla questions what she wants. Putting her fears from the past behind her, Kayla decides to help find the tesseract and stop Loki.
1. Chapter 1

The room was silent as she walked around, eyeing each person carefully. One of them was bound to slip up. One always did, especially during this important time.

Slight movement caught her attention. Turning her head, she didn't see anything unusual...yet. There was nothing she could do if she didn't catch them in the act.

She glanced at the clock. Two more minutes. Maybe this will actually go smoothly. Even though it appeared that way she still kept her guard up. Anything could happen at any second.

It was getting down to the final seconds and she scanned the room for any last minute attempts. Keep both eyes opened and on the targets. She was kind of hoping one of them would slip up. It had been so long since she got to punish someone.

She took another quick glance at the clock; she sighed. "Time's up." It looks like she didn't get to punish anyone...this time at least. "Please put your tests on my desk and you're free to go."

All at once, the students stood up, dropping their tests off on their way out the door. Some were discussing how they did on the test.

Kayla sat at her desk as the last of her students filed out. Her gaze then went to the stack of tests. Kayla loved teaching and she wouldn't give it up, but sometimes she despised grading papers. It was her last class of the day so she grabbed the tests, put them in her bag, and left the classroom. She would grade the tests in the comfort of her own room.

Before she made her way up to her room, Kayla took a detour to the kitchen. Can't grade papers on an empty stomach.

As soon as she walked in the kitchen, the delicious aromas filled her nose. She smiled as she made her way straight for the desserts. She scanned the different desserts on the table.

"Shouldn't you have dinner first?"

Kayla glanced over at the person who spoke. "Dinner won't give me the energy I need, Trent."

"Ah yes, it's finals week. So, you will be grading finals?"

"Yep. I will need sweets to get me through."

Trent smiled. "Then I have just the thing for you." Trent went over to one of the counters, grabbed a paper bag, and handed it to Kayla. "I saved some for you."

Kayla opened the bag and smiled. "Peanut butter cookies. My favorite."

"I took some before some of the others could eat them all."

Kayla looked at Trent. "Thanks."

"Just don't eat them all in one sitting."

"I'm not promising anything." Kayla then left the kitchen.

It didn't take long for Kayla to get to her room, even when she had to climb six flights of stairs. Once in her room she changed into more comfortable clothes. She then sat at her desk where a pile of test finals were waiting for her. She grabbed her red pen, a cookie from the bag, and started grading.

Time escaped Kayla as she sat there, grading papers. Whenever she graded papers she would get into a zone and forget the world around her. She broke out of her zone when she went to grab a cookie and there were none left.

Kayla looked in the bag to see if maybe one was hiding. When she saw there were none in there she frowned. "Aw, man." She looked at her pile of papers. "Only about half more to go."

Kayla put down her pen, stood up, and stretched. She was about to sit back down when there was a knock at her door. She was surprised to see Trent on the other side.

"Trent, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to check on you."

"Why?"

"It's 6:30 and I know how you get when you're grading papers. Did you eat dinner?"

"Um...do the cookies count?"

Trent shook his head. "No. Come on."

"But I still have finals to grade."

"You can grade them after you eat."

Kayla sighed, knowing Trent wouldn't go away unless she went with him to eat. "Fine, if I must eat."

"Yes, you must. I know it's annoying but eating is kind of essential."

Kayla slipped on her shoes, shut her door, then she and Trent headed to the cafeteria. Trent made his way towards the elevators. Kayla grabbed his arm and led him over to the stairs.

"I don't do elevators." Kayla said.

"Oh, I forgot you're afraid of elevators. Seen too many horror movies or something." Trent smiled.

"Or something."

By the time the two of them reached the first floor, Trent was out of breath.

"How can you do that every day? And you aren't even out of breath."

"It's because I do it every day. You are just out of shape. You should exercise more."

"I exercise plenty."

"Playing Call of Duty is not exercise."

Trent shrugged. "Maybe, but it definitely builds up your thumb muscles."

Kayla just shook her head.

The two of them made their way to the cafeteria. As soon as they walked in, Kayla stopped in her tracks. One of the cafeteria tables was set up with dinner, which Kayla was expecting. What she was not expecting was a pair of candles and a single rose in a vase.

Kayla raised an eyebrow at Trent. "Is this supposed to be a date? Trent, I've told you before-"

"I know, I know. Can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

"This is just going to be a dinner between friends."

"Understood."

As they sat down, Kayla tried not to make things awkward. Trent had been trying to get her to go out on a date for a while now and each time she had turned him down. She made it clear that she only like him as a friend, but Trent kept trying.

Dinner wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be. Trent had removed the candles and the flower so it felt more like a dinner between friends than a date. Things had been going fine as they talked about their classes, what they planned to do during the break.

Trent, being the one to never give up, decided to make a move. Kayla had her hand resting on the table, Trent reached for it. Kayla saw and quickly pulled her hand back.

"Sorry." Trent said. "I just…I think we would be really good together."

"Trent, I've told you I only think of you as a friend. If you can't accept that then maybe we shouldn't hang out."

"Kayla-"

"I have papers I need to finish grading. Thanks for dinner." Kayla stood and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

Trent was a good friend and Kayla tried to stay friends with him even though he had more feelings for her. Maybe being friends with someone who wanted more wasn't possible. It would make working in the same building a bit tense if she had to avoid him.

When Kayla arrived back at her room she was ready to get back to grading papers. That would take her mind off what had just happened. She was about to sit down at her desk when a knock came.

Kayla sighed. "Trent, I really don't want to talk right-" Kayla opened the door, but the person on the other side was not who she was expecting. "Phil Couslon, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

"Good to see you too, Kayla. May I come in?"

"Of course." Kayla stepped aside, letting Phil in. "Why do I get a feeling this isn't a social visit?"

"I wish it were. There's a situation."

"I'm not a field agent any more. I'm happy here with teaching."

"Are you really happy here? I've never known you to be able to stay in one place for more than three months."

Kayla shrugged. "I've learned to sit still."

"Hard to believe. Your parents always had a hard time making you stay in one place. At one point they tried using one of those child leashes."

Kayla smiled. "Yeah, I don't remember that working to well."

"It didn't. Anyway, I'm not here to go down memory lane with you. We could really use your help with this."

Kayla turned away. "I told you I'm not a field agent any more. I'm probably rusty."

"Those type of skills never go away. The tesseract has been stolen."

Kayla turned back to him. "By who?"

"Loki."

"That's big."

"We could use you on this. You're a good agent."

"Was."

"I can't believe that you are actually happy here."

"Well, I am.

"Just think about it. I have another stop to make." Phil turned and opened the door.

"I'm not going to change my mind."

Phil looked at her with a smile. "Of course you aren't." He then shut the door.

Kayla sighed as she sat on her bed. Things were bad, but there would be enough agents to help stop Loki and get the tesseract back. They didn't need her. She wouldn't be of help to anyone.

Glancing at the stack of ungraded finals, Kayla felt conflicted. She did like teaching, but…

Kayla stood up and began pacing. How could she even think about going? She had papers to grade. She couldn't leave her students like that. Kayla stopped pacing and sat at her desk. Picking up her pen, she grabbed a test and tried to put Phil's visit out of her mind.

After a minute of her pen hovering above the test, she slammed her pen down. "Damn it, Phil."

Kayla stood, walked to her closet, grabbed her backpack, and started packing. "I'm probably going to regret this."


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting in the helicopter, Kayla couldn't help but question whether she made the right decision. Well, it was too late to change her mind now. Her leg bounced up and down with nerves and a little bit of excitement. It had been too long since she was last in the field and she wouldn't deny that she did miss it. After what happened a year ago though, Kayla wondered how other agents would take to her returning.

Kayla shook her head. It did her no good wondering about it. She was only making herself more nervous. She tried to resist the urge to open the helicopter door and fall into the ocean. Whatever happened she would deal with it when the time came.

When the helicopter finally landed, Kayla was hesitant to get out. She hadn't been out in the field for a year. She knew she didn't forget her skills, but she was sure she would be rusty. What if…

Kayla shook her head. Everything will be fine. Phil believed in her and that's all she needed.

Taking a deep breath, Kayla opened the door and stepped on to the hellicarrier. Once she was out the helicopter took off.

Kayla just stood there feeling out of place, still unsure how the other agents would take to her. If it had been anyone other than Phil who asked she wouldn't have come. He was right though. Staying in one place was not for her. Maybe it was time she got back out there.

A few agents looked at Kayla as she made her way inside.

"Kayla Matthews."

Kayla stopped and turned toward the person who spoke.

"I never thought I would see you out and about again. Thought you retired being a field agent?"

"I decided to unretire."

"So you can mess this mission up too? You should have stayed at your school." He then walked away.

 _Don't let them get to you._ Kayla thought as she continued walking.

Excitement buzzed through Kayla as she walked onto the bridge. She could hardly believe she was back out here.

"Agent Kayla Matthews."

Kayla turned with a smile. "Director Fury. Good to see you."

"And it's good to see you. I'm glad you decided to join us."

"Did you tell Phil to bring me in?"

"No. He thought you would be a good asset to this team and I agreed."

"Others may not think so." Kayla said as she glanced around.

"Don't mind what others think. You're a good agent. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Kayla nodded.

"Kayla, I heard you were coming aboard." Natasha said as she walked up.

"Really? I didn't even know I was coming."

Natasha smiled. "Someone was pretty sure you would. I'll show you where you can put you bag."

Kayla followed Natasha.

"So, how' the teaching going?" Natasha asked.

Kayla shrugged. "All right. Finals just go done with and I had to leave the rest of the papers to another teacher to grade. I kind of left abruptly."

"Who would want to be teaching when you could be hunting down bad guys?"

Kayla said nothing.

They soon arrived to their destination and Natasha pointed out Kayla's locker. Kayla glanced at it; it had her name on it. She looked at Natasha.

"Phil was really sure I would come, wasn't he?"

"He knew you couldn't stay away forever. Kayla, you know you aren't the only one who-"

"I know. I just feel like I could have done more."

"You did everything you could. Well, I'll let you get settled." Natasha started walking away.

"Nat."

"Natasha stopped and looked back at Kayla.

"It's good to see you again."

Natasha smiled. "You too." She then left.

Kayla sighed as she put her bag down. Phil had so much faith in her. He was the only one to believe in her when others didn't. Sometimes Kayla didn't understand why he believed in her so much.

A phone went off, making Kayla jump. She realized it was her phone so she took it out of her pocket and answered it.

"Kayla, I heard from one of the teachers that you left." Trent said.

"Yeah."

"How long are you going to be gone? You are coming back, right?"

"I shouldn't be gone too long. And yes, I will be back."

"Good to hear. Stay safe."

"Will do." Kayla then hung up.

Kayla did let the dean of the school know she was leaving. She had knocked on his door around 9 o'clock, expecting him to still be up. When the dean answered the door though, Kayla saw that she had woken him up. After apologizing profusely, she explained how she was called in for a mission. He didn't seem happy about that especially since Kayla had assured him she was retired when she was hired on as a teacher. She did promise that she would be back before school started back up. It shouldn't take that long to find and stop Loki…right?

Once Kayla put her things in her locker, she began to make her way back to the bridge. She was so caught up in her thoughts, wondering if she had made the right decision that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and bumped into someone. She stumbled back.

"I am so sorry." She said.

"It's all right."

Kayla looked at who she bumped into and saw someone familiar. Well, familiar that she had seen pictures of him and read about him, but not familiar that she had met him.

"Kayla, this is Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner. This is Kayla Matthews." Natasha introduced.

Kayla had been too busy staring at Steve to even register Natasha and someone else was there.

"Steve Rogers, I grew up with you. Well, not grew up with you literally, of course. I just grew up with stories about you. Um…sorry. I'll shut up now." Kayla looked at Bruce. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Banner."

Bruce just nodded as he watched the exchange between Kayla and Steve.

Steve just smiled. "It's fine. You know, you sound like that one agent, Coulson."

"He's my uncle. Adopted uncle. He and my parents were very close friends. Anyway, we should probably get to the bridge."

The four of them started walking. It wasn't long before they arrived at the bridge. Kayla noticed Phil so she made her way to him.

"Kayla, good to see you join us." He said when he saw her.

"How did you know I would come?"

"Because I know you." He smiled.

"So, where are you with the tesseract?" Bruce asked.

We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not going to find them in time." Natasha said.

"You have to narrow the field." Bruce said. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roofs and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory please."

Natasha nodded. She and Bruce then walked off. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys."

"So Phil, with as big as this thing is there has to be a training area, right?" Kayla asked.

"Of course. I'll show you where it is."

The two of them walked out of the bridge. "If I'm going to be any help I should practice. The most training I've done the last year is jog."

"You don't give yourself much credit."

"You try not training for a year and we'll see how good you still are."

"I don't think I'll be taking you up on that any time soon."

"Well, if you change your mind you know how to get a hold of me."

Once Phil showed her where the training room was, he left to go back to the bridge. Training would probably be easier if she had a partner, but everyone was too busy trying to find the cube. There wasn't much Kayla could do until they did so she would just stay out of everyone's way.

All right. Time to see how out of practice she really was.

* * *

 **I know this one was short and probably boring, but I have great ideas for the next chapter. It will be much better, I promise. I do want to thank my two reviewers. It means a lot. And to answer my first reviewer's question: I'm thinking she might get paired with Steve. We'll see how things go.**


	3. Chapter 3

There wasn't much Steve Rogers could do while he waited for the tesseract to be located. Instead of staying on the bridge where he was probably in everyone's way, he decided to wander around.

Things had definitely changed in the last seventy years, but at the same time nothing had changed. He was hesitant to go out into this new world not because he was afraid of this new world, but because it was a lot to take in. It was a bit of an adjustment.

Steve was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he finally realized he had no idea where he was. He wasn't even sure how long he had been walking. This place was a lot bigger than what it appeared. He was thinking about heading back to the bridge when something came flying out of the room he was about to walk by, stopping him in his tracks.

"Whoa."

"Sorry." Kayla said as she came out of the room. "I didn't hit you, did I?"

"No."

"That's good." She then picked up the knife from the floor. "I was training. I didn't mean to send the dagger out the door."

"You train with knives?"

"It's a dagger." Kayla held it up for Steve to see. It was good in length with it being wide at the forte and narrowing down to a sharp point. The hilt was black with silver stripping. There was a double shell guard, complete with finger loops and knuckle bow. "It keeps me on my toes." Kayla walked back into the room.

"Couldn't you throw less dangerous objects?" Steve asked as he followed her.

"Where's the fun in that? And I didn't exactly throw it." Kayla mumbled the last part.

"How did the knife fly out of the room if you didn't throw it?"

Kayla looked at him, probably thinking he didn't hear her.

At first she said nothing. It almost appeared like she was having an internal battle.

After a while Kayla sighed and said, "Well, half of S.H.I.E.L.D already knows and you being super you shouldn't judge me too bad. I meant super you as a compliment, by the way."

"I'll take it as one."

"Here, throw this dagger at me." Kayla said as she held it out for Steve.

Steve looked at the dagger then back at Kayla. "You're kidding, right?"

"Relax, I have excellent reflexes. And I promise I have a good aim."

"Better aim then when you didn't mean to throw the knife out the door?"

Kayla shrugged. "Ok, so I don't have perfect aim all the time. I do promise not to deflect the dagger in your direction."

Steve raised his eyebrow and the word deflect, but said nothing.

"All right." Steve finally said as he took the dagger.

Kayla walked a few feet away from Steve, then turned toward him with a smile. "Whenever you're ready."

Steve was still a bit hesitant to throw the knife at her even if she did have excellent reflexes. Kayla looked at him as if to tell him to hurry up.

"Ready?" Steve asked.

"I've been ready."

Steve threw the dagger. He didn't know what to expect, but happened he never in a million years would have thought of.

When the dagger was close to Kayla, she put her hand out and moved it to the left and the dagger went flying in that direction. What was interesting was the blue light that appeared in front of Kayla's hand as she held it out.

"That was…it was…how did you do that?" Steve asked.

Kayla shrugged. "It's something I was born with. I can also create a barrier around me or something else."

"A barrier?"

As Kayla stood, the same blue light that surrounded her hand surrounded her whole body.

"Try throwing something at me."

This time Steven didn't question it. Steve picked up something and threw it at Kayla. The object bounced off the barrier. The barrier then faded.

"That's amazing."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. And you were born with this power?"

Kayla nodded. "Unlike other people who get their powers by subatomic particles and serums, I got the joy of being born this way."

"Subatomic particles?"

"Never mind. Um, we should go back to the bridge and see if they made any progress." Kayla picked up her dagger and placed it in a strap on her boot. It was then that Steve noticed a second dagger strapped to her other boot.

"You sure do like knives, don't you?" He asked.

"Daggers. They are daggers."

Steve just shook his head.

As the two of them were walking back to the bridge Steve couldn't help wondering about Kayla and her powers. He wanted to ask her how growing up with a power like that was, but he didn't. He thought it was too personal a question, especially since they had just met. Also, Kayla seemed hesitant to mention her power so maybe she didn't like talking about it.

* * *

Walking on to the bridge Kayla could tell they hadn't located Loki yet. Agents were still scrambling around, typing away on their computers. She made her way over to Phil.

"How was training?" He asked.

Kayla shrugged. "It was all right. Been a while since I've used my powers. I showed off a bit."

Phil glanced over at Steve then back at Kayla. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. Instead he said, "Has it really been a year since you've used your powers?"

"I've had no need to use them at the school. Besides, not everyone there knows about that and I plan on keeping it that way."

"It's all in your head, you know?"

Kayla glanced at him with confusion.

"You think everyone hates you, but they don't."

"Cody does."

"Well, Cody is Cody. He gets angry at people if they look at him wrong."

"It was his brother I let die."

"You did everything you could. You can't save everyone, but you shouldn't stop trying."

"You never stop trying to get me back out there, do you, Uncle Phil?"

Phil smiled. "Never."

"I told you after this I'm done."

"Of course you are."

Phil was so sure Kayla would decide to be a field agent again. Well, she wasn't. This was a onetime thing and then she would go back to teaching. She loved teaching. It's what she was good at. She looked over at Phil who still had a smile on his face.

"I'm going back to teaching." Kayla said. She then walked off.

"Now?"

Kayla turned back to him. "Of course not now." She turned around as she started walking. "I'm just going for a walk."

Why did she decide to come? She should have just stayed at school. It wasn't like she was going to be much help anyway. Phil was wrong about her wanting to be back out in the field. He was wrong that she missed it. He was wrong.

Kayla turned a corner, almost running right into someone who was standing there. Luckily she saw him and was able to avoid a collision. When she saw who it was she quickly turned around, but she wasn't quick enough; he saw her.

"Hello, Freak. It seems we keep running into each other." Cody said.

"Well, there are so many places one can go on this aircraft. I was just returning to the bridge." Kayla turned to walk away.

"You should have done more."

Kayla looked back at him. "I did all that I could."

"You have that power to create force fields and you couldn't keep it up until help arrived?"

"I tried."

"You should have tried harder." Cody walked passed her.

Kayla stood there, resisting the urge to lash out. She took a deep breath, counted to ten, then slowly released her breath. _I will not let him get to me._ Kayla thought as she made her way back to the bridge.

When she walked onto the bridge she avoided Cody, who was glaring at her. Spotting Phil and Steve, Kayla made her way over to them.

"It's a vintage set." Phil was saying. "It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but..."

"Are you bugging Mr. Rogers into signing your trading card collection, Uncle Phil?" Kayla asked as she stood next to them.

"I'm not bugging." Kayla raised an eyebrow. "I'm not.

Kayla glanced at Steve. "Feel free to tell him to shut up or give him a shove it's he's annoying. That's what I do."

Steve smiled. "No, it's fine."

"You know; I remember a certain girl saying that if she could meet Steve Rogers she would have him sign her comic book." Phil said.

Kayla playfully punched him. "Don't tell him that. Besides, I was nine at the time."

Steve chuckled.

"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy-nine percent." One of the agents said.

"Location?" Phil asked.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, you're up." Fury said.

Steve nodded, then walked out.

Phil looked at Kayla, motioning for her to go. Kayla took a deep breath. She then followed Steve out.

Kayla made her way outside but before she walked to the jet she stopped. This was why she came; to help stop Loki. Now that the time was actually here she was starting to doubt herself. She shouldn't be going. She would only be in the way.

"Kayla, you all right?

Kayla glanced at Steve. "Fine, it's just…this is the first time I've been out in the field in a year. What if I mess everything up?"

"Somethings you just don't forget."

"That's what Phil said."

"Well, it's true. Besides, I don't think you would have agreed to come if you truly believed you would be useless."

Steve walked away, leaving Kayla stunned. He may have a point though.

All right. Time to stop thinking negatively. This mission would go smoothly and then she would go back to teaching.

With determination, Kayla made her way onto the jet.


	4. Chapter 4

Kayla sat on the jet as she fingered the heart-shaped locket that hung from her neck. She should have trained more. She wasn't prepared for this. What was she thinking? Damn Phil for getting into her head.

"Kayla?"

Kayla glanced up at Steve.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine." She realized she was twisting her necklace around her finger and dropped her hand in her lap. "This is the first time you'll be out in the field for a while, right? How are you feeling?"

"Honestly? A little nervous."

"You aren't just saying that to make me feel better, are you?"

"No."

"Hey you two, we're coming up on Loki." Natasha said.

Kayla stood up. "What's the plan?"

"We don't exactly know what we'll be walking into so we need to be prepared for anything."

Kayla nodded. "Ok. Drop me off here."

"What?" Steve and Natasha asked.

"You heard me. Listen, since we don't know what's happening it will be a good idea to attack on two fronts; you from the air and me from the ground."

"It's actually a good idea." Steve said.

"There's really no place to land on the ground." Natasha said.

"No need." Kayla said. "Get me close to a building and I'll just jump on the roof.

Natasha lowered the jet close enough to one of the buildings that Kayla could jump to the roof. She quickly made her way to the ground, ignoring all the looks people were giving her. After a bit of running Kayla started to think that this wasn't such a good idea. The jet would get there way before she did.

By the time she arrived to where Loki was, Steve was already fighting him. Kayla stopped just long enough to grab her daggers. She then made the rest of the way to Steve and Loki.

Loki was about to hit Steve with his scepter. Kayla held up her dagger, blocking the scepter. She took the other dagger and swiped up, but Loki was quick. He took a step back before the dagger could make contact with him.

"You must be Kayla Matthews." Loki said.

"How do you know that?"

"Barton mentioned they might call you in, but he was sure you wouldn't come. He thought you would continue hiding like a coward."

Kayla glared as she went after Loki. He was able to block all her attacks. She kneeled down and swept her legs under him, making him fall to the ground. She went to attack again; Loki quickly stood and kicked her, knocking her back.

"This guy is all over the place." Natasha said from the jet.

Kayla raised an eyebrow as AC/DC's song _Shoot to Thrill_ came through the PA system. "Nat, did you seriously just put on AC/DC?"

"Uh, that wasn't me."

"That was me. Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?"

Kayla, Steve, and Loki looked up to see Iron Man fly in. He blasted Loki. Tony then landed next to Steve, aiming his weapons at Loki. "Make your move, Reindeer games."

Loki put up his hands.

"Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Steve said.

"Captain. And deadly-wielding-knife-chick."

"They're daggers." Kayla said as she pointed one toward Tony.

"Time and place, Kayla." Steve said.

"Sorry."

As they led Loki onto the jet Kayla couldn't help thinking that this was too easy. She was expecting a much bigger fight. She glanced around. And a bigger mess, but they hadn't destroyed anything. Not like things were always damaged when a battle was fought, but this was not what Kayla was expecting.

Kayla kept an eye out for anything. Something was not right. Apparently, Steve thought the same thing. Kayla had tuned out his and Tony's conversation as she thought about what Loki could gain by being caught. Loki already had the tesseract so what else could he want?

Kayla was brought out of her thoughts as thunder rumbled.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha asked.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked Loki. "Scared of a little thunder?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki said.

Thunder and lightning? Loki looking uneasy? Kayla had an idea on what was coming…or more like who was coming. If it was who she thought it was he would probably try to take Loki back with him, but she couldn't let that happen yet.

Tony put on his helmet and then opened the ramp to the jet and in stepped who Kayla assumed was Thor. Tony made a move toward Thor, but Thor hit him with his hammer. Thor looked at Loki and took a step toward him. Kayla quickly put up her hands, creating a force field between Loki and Thor. Thor glanced at Kayla. He then raised his hammer, aiming for her shield.

Kayla wasn't sure what exactly would happen if he hit his hammer on her shield, but she knew it probably wouldn't be good. Before Thor could bring down his hammer, Kayla lowered the shield. Thor then grabbed Loki and jumped out of the jet.

"And now there's this guy." Tony said.

"I'm sorry." Kayla said. "I didn't know what would happen if his hammer hit my shield."

"It's all right." Steve said. "Think that guy's a friendly?"

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the tesseract is lost." Tony said as he made a move to jump out of the jet.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack."

"I have a plan: attack." Tony then jumped out of the jet.

Steve grabbed a parachute.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha said. "These guys come from legend. They're basically Gods."

"There's only one God ma'am and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that." Steve then followed the others out of the jet.

"This is my fault." Kayla said. "Maybe I should have kept my barrier up."

"You're too hard on yourself, Kayla. And you said so yourself. You weren't sure what would happen if his hammer made contact with your barrier."

"I know, but if Loki gets away-"

Natasha glanced back and gave Kayla a stern look. "Stop beating yourself up.

That's easier said than done, Kayla thought. She should have just stood in front of Loki. Of course that probably wouldn't have done any good either. Thor would have just pushed her aside. And while Steve and Tony were trying to get Loki back, Kayla was just sitting here being useless.

Kayla glanced at one of the parachutes, thinking about grabbing it and jumping out of the jet. She decided against it. If Steve and Tony needed help she would stay here for backup.

Time seemed to slow down as Kayla waited for something…anything. She hadn't heard from Steve or Tony. Were they still fighting? Or were they…

Kayla shook her head. No. They were stronger than that. They wouldn't go down so easily.

"Steve, Tony? Can you hear me?" She asked over the comm.

Nothing.

"Steve? Are you all right?"

Still nothing.

Kayla was about to grab the parachute and get ready to jump, but a voice over the comm stopped her.

"Why do you ask the Cap if he's all right, but you don't ask if I'm all right."

Kayla smiled. "Are you all right, Tony?"

"Fine, thanks for asking. We are ready for pick-up."

Once the jet had set down and Loki was once again being brought on board, Tony and Steve had explained what happened. Tony decided to fly back to the helicarrier by himself. As the others got on the jet and headed back as well, Kayla was sure Loki wanted to get caught. With Tony and Thor fighting Loki had plenty of time to escape yet he didn't. What was his plan?

"How did you create that barrier?"

Kayla glanced over at Thor. "It's a curse I was born with."

"Someone cursed you?"

"Nope, just born this way."

When they landed on the helicarrier agents were standing by, ready to escort Loki to a holding cell. Kayla stayed behind as everyone made their way inside. She glanced around. What she was looking for she had no idea. There was a reason Loki wanted to get caught.

"Kayla."

Kayla looked over at Phil. "This was too easy." She said as she walked up to him. The two of them then headed inside.

"Maybe he just realized he was up against Earth's finest heroes and knew he couldn't win."

Kayla scoffed. "Doubt it. Besides, you shouldn't include me in the hero's category."

"You keep doubting yourself and I'm going to smack you."

"Now that I would want to see."

Kayla and Phil looked over at Tony.

"Don't encourage him." Kayla said.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't need encouragement. We've never been formally introduced. Tony Stark."

"Kayla Matthews."

"Agent Coulson has mentioned you a few times."

Kayla glanced at Phil then back at Tony. "He talks about me?"

"All the time. He tells me all the trouble you cause when you're not obsessing over work."

"I obsess over work?" Kayla looked over at her uncle. "Who works so much and doesn't go see his girlfriend?"

"I see her whenever I get a chance." Phil said.

"Maybe you should go see her once this whole thing with Loki is taken care off."

"That's a good idea." Tony said.

As the three of them neared the bridge they heard Bruce say, "Iridium? What do they need iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said as they walked in. He looked at Phil. "Pick a weekend. I'll even fly you there. Keep the love alive." He then turned his attention to everyone else. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD. Also, it means the portal can stay open as wide and as long as Loki wants."

"That's a problem." Kayla said.

Tony walked to the central computer. He covered one eye as he looked at the computer screens. He then looked at Maria. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns." Maria answered.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce said.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony said.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.

"Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked.

"Don't feel bad, I don't understand it either." Kayla said.

Tony and Bruce shook hands. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Kayla hit Tony over the head. "Don't be rude."

Tony looked at her. "I wasn't being rude."

"It's all right." Bruce said.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube." Fury said as he walked in. "I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve said.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor said.

"I do. I understood that reference." Steve said; Kayla smiled.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony said. He and Bruce then walked out.

Kayla stood, staring out the window. Why was SHIELD working on the tesseract to begin with? If Phil knew he didn't tell her. They may be close, but even he didn't tell her everything. Of course, some things he wasn't authorized to tell her no matter how much she begged. He was a good agent.

"Kayla, you all right?"

Kayla looked over at Phil. "Of course I'm all right."

"You look deep in thought. Care to share?"

"Not really."

Phil nodded. "I never asked how it felt being back out in the field."

Kayla shrugged. "It was over pretty quick. I'm pretty sure Loki let himself get caught. The question is why?"

"That didn't answer my question."

"I need to go check something." Kayla began to walk away.

"Are you going to answer my question?"

Kayla smiled. "Nope."

Something was going on and Kayla was going to figure out exactly what that was. The problem was, she didn't know where to start or what exactly she was looking for. She turned a corner and saw that maybe she wasn't the only one who had questions.

Kayla made her way to Steve who was trying to open a door. "What you doing, soldier?"

Steve jumped slightly then look over at Kayla. "Could you make some noise next time?"

Kayla chuckled. "Sorry. So why are you trying to get in here?"

"Something Tony said-"

"Is making you wonder what Fury isn't telling us?"

"He say the same thing to you?"

"No. I just had my own suspicions."

"Well then, I'll get this door open and we'll see what he's hiding."

Steve turned back to the door and slid the door open. The two of them walked into the room. Kayla glanced around at the many metal crates.

Steve glanced up, noticing a second level. "I'm going to check up there."

Kayla watched as Steve jumped, grabbing on to the side of the catwalk and then leaping onto it. Kayla went to one of the crates, opening it revealed weapons.

"Steve, there are weapons in here."

"There are weapons up here too."

"Oh God. They've been harnessing the tesseract's power to create weapons."

Steve jumped back down to the ground next to Kayla, one of the weapons in hand. "We need to tell the others."

He and Kayla then began walking to the lab.

"I don't understand." Kayla said. "Why are they using the cube's power to make weapons?"

"Only one way to find out."

"What is PHASE 2?" Tony asked.

At that moment Steve and Kayla walked in to the lab. Steve dropped a HYDRA assault rifle on the table causing Fury, Bruce, and Tony to turn around.

"PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve said. He glanced at Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." Fury started to explain. "This does not mean that we're...

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony said as he moved the computer screen toward Fury which showed plans of the weapons. "What? Were you lying?"

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said.

Thor and Natasha walked into the lab at that moment. Natasha kept her eyes on Bruce.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha asked.

"I was in Calcutta; I was pretty well removed." Bruce said.

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him." Fury said as he pointed at Thor.

"Me?" Thor said confused.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury glanced over at Kayla.

"Was that aimed at me? Or at my kind?" Kayla glared.

"Not all mutants are bad, but they can all be dangerous."

"So, you're just working on a backup plan in case you need to take us out?"

"That's not-"

"You're work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor said. "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."

"Nuclear deterrent. `Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony said.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck deep-" Steve began.

"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this about me?"

"Isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor said.

Kayla was beginning to see what a mistake coming here was. She should have just stayed at the school. At least there she wouldn't have to argue with people who would want to kill her kind…well, maybe she would. Mutant rights have come up a bit, but she always stayed out of those conversations.

Kayla shook her head. Not the time to be thinking about that. Focus on what was going on now.

"I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb." Bruce said.

"You need to step away." Fury said.

Tony put his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

Steve pushed Tony away. "You know damn well why. Back off."

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughed at them. "You people are so petty, and tiny."

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" Fury started to say.

"Where? You rented my room." Bruce said.

"The cell was just in case-"

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't. I know, I tried. I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk."

Everyone looked at Bruce. Bruce had picked up the scepter, but he didn't seem to realize.

"You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Natasha and Fury moved their hands down to grab their guns.

"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter." Steve said.

Bruce looked down, shock written on his face that he was holding Loki's scepter. The computer beeped. They all turn to it.

"Got it." Tony said.

Bruce put down the scepter and walked over to the computer. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."

"Located the tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there faster." Tony said.

"Look, all of us-" Steve tried to say.

"The tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." Thor said.

Tony turned to leave, but Steve stopped him.

"You're not going alone."

"You gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

At that moment Bruce, who was looking at the monitor, noticed something about the Tesseract.

"Oh, my God."

Kayla looked at him. "What is it?"

Before Bruce could answer, an explosion erupted sending everyone in every direction. Kayla had gone through one of the windows. She sat for a second as her mind processed what had just happened. She had a few scrapes on her arms, but other than that no major injuries.

Steve looked up at Tony. "Put on the suite."

"Yep."

Steve and Tony ran off. Kayla was about to follow, but stopped.

"Loki."

She changed direction and ran to where Loki was being held.

Is this what Loki wanted? Did he want to tear the team a part so they couldn't stop him? They were so busy arguing with one another that now Loki may be free and he just may open the portal. No. She wouldn't let that happen.

Kayla arrived in the holding cell just in time to see the cell drop through the hole. For a moment, Kayla thought that Loki's attempt to escape failed and he was the one who fell. When she glanced over she saw Loki standing by the control panel. Her eyes then landed on the person sitting against the wall; Phil. There was blood on his shirt.

Kayla stood, her mind trying to process what she was seeing. It was an illusion. It had to be. Or maybe he wasn't that injured. That was it. It was just a minor injury and the blood on his shirt just made it appear that it was worse than it actually was.

She was brought out of her thoughts and finally able to move when Phil had used the gun, blasting Loki through the wall.

"So that's what it does." He said.

"No! Phil!" Kayla ran to her uncle's side. It was then that she saw how badly he was injured. Tears formed in her eyes. "Don't die, uncle Phil."

"Sorry, kiddo. Promise me something."

Kayla could no longer hold back her tears. "No."

"Promise me you won't hide."

"Uncle Phil-"

"Promise. The world needs you."

Kayla said nothing as she glanced at his injury, then looked him in the eyes. "I can't promise you that. I do promise that Loki won't get away with this."

"Kayla-"

Kayla kissed Phil on the forehead. "Good-bye, Uncle Phil."

Kayla then stood and took off running. She could see Loki; she wasn't that far behind. "LOKI!"

Loki stopped and looked behind him, a smirk on his face. Kayla took out her daggers and went to attack Loki. Loki blocked her attack with his scepter. Kayla didn't give up. She kept trying to get a hit in, but every time Loki blocked it. Loki then took the scepter and swept it under Kayla's legs, making her fall to the ground.

Loki pointed his scepter at her. "You're feisty, I like that. You might be useful."


	5. Chapter 5

As Steve was walking to the bridge he kept an eye out for Kayla. When the explosion hit they landed not that far from each other. He remembered glancing at her when he had told Tony to put on his suit. That was the last he saw of her. He hoped she was all right.

Everyone was silent when he got to the bridge. No one was prepared for this attack and they were all still a bit shaken up. As Steve sat he glanced around, but still saw no sign of Kayla.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury said, breaking the silence. "I guess he never did get you to sign them." He threw some cards on the table toward Steve.

Steve picked up one of the Captain America trading cards; there was blood on it.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. Kayla was taken by Loki. We have to assume she is under his control now. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming."

Steve glanced up at that.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."

Tony stood and walked out.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

He was right. Heroes are an old fashion notion, but like Phil said sometimes people need a bit of old fashioned. Even though some of them were scattered they couldn't just sit and do nothing. There had to be something they could do.

Steve soon left to go find Tony. No way was he going to sit here and do nothing, but he couldn't take on Loki by himself. He would need Tony. Steve soon found Tony in the holding cell area, where Phil was kill.

"Was he married?" He asked.

"No. There was a uh...cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job."

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."

"Kayla was with him."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out for her." Tony walked passed Steve.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"

Tony quickly turned to Steve. "We are not soldiers. I am not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list..."

Tony looked at the blood stained wall. "He made it personal."

"That's not the point."

"That is the point." He looked back at Steve. "That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart."

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

"Right, I caught his act at Stuttgart."

"Yeah. That's just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered... Son of a bitch."

* * *

Kayla didn't understand. She knew Loki had put Barton and a few other agents under his control so why didn't he do the same to her? Loki surprised her when he grabbed her by the arm, pulled her up, and then dragged her to one of the jets. Not that she was complaining. It would just make things a bit easier.

She was silent on the way to wherever they were going. She knew she wasn't strong enough to take on Loki by herself, but maybe she could slip away and let the others know where they were.

When they finally arrived Kayla was surprised to find herself at Stark tower. When she walked off the jet she saw the tesseract. She stopped as she continued looking at it.

"I wouldn't try it if I were you." Loki said. "You know you won't be able to stop it. You can't even take me on. It was a nice try, though."

Kayla glared at him. "So, why take me to begin with? You haven't put me under your control yet so what do you want from me?"

Loki stared at her. Thinking he was going to change his mind Kayla took a step back. Instead, Loki walked inside leaving Kayla even more confused. While Loki was inside she could take this opportunity to escape. Glancing around though, there was nowhere to go. The only way down was the elevator which was inside. How was she going to get out of this one?

Kayla made her way inside as she thought about her next move. This was actually a nice place, she thought. Not the time to admire Tony's place.

"We aren't that different, you and I." Loki said.

Kayla looked at him with a glare. "I am nothing like you."

"During my time here I have learned a few things about mutants. That's what you are, right? You were born with your powers. You didn't get them from a science experiment and because of that people fear you. People want your kind dead."

"That hardly makes us the same."

Loki took a step toward her; Kayla took a step back. "You've thought about it, haven't you? Ruling them the humans? You are more powerful than them. Why would you want to waste your life trying to fit in, especially when many of them will never accept you?"

Kayla looked down. "You're right. Many people do not and never will accept me. When they realize what I am they look at me with such fear and hatred. I've always asked myself why people are so more accepting of those who gain their powers by scientific means. I am the same as them. We both have gained powers. I was just born with mine. It's not fair."

"Exactly. Wouldn't you like to teach them a lesson? It's not your fault for the way you were born. You didn't ask for it. People will always see us as one thing and that will never change."

"You know," Kayla glanced up. "you aren't the first one to try to turn me against humanity and I'm pretty sure you won't be the last. That's the difference between you and I. You want people to fear you. You think you are above everyone and they should just bow down to you because you are more powerful than them. Well, that's not me." Her look hardened. "I was born into a world where people hate my kind. There was a time I used to hate them, but not so much now. I may have powers, but that doesn't make me any better than them."

"That's a shame. We might have been good together. Well, I suppose if you still stand against me I'll just have to persuade you by other means." Loki held up his staff.

Kayla took another step back as she put up her barrier. Her eyes darted around the room, landing on the elevator doors. She calculated how far it was from her. She just might be able to make it.

Before Kayla could make a move, a blast from outside made both Loki and Kayla look out; Kayla didn't lower her shield.

Relief washed over Kayla as she saw Iron Man. He touched down and as he walked a spinning rim was activated, taking off Tony's suit. Tony walked in and made his way to the bar.

Tony looked over at Kayla. "Kayla, you good?"

Kayla gave him a thumbs up. "Still me. It's about time you showed up. Where's everyone else?"

"They're on their way."

"So what do you plan to do now?" Loki asked. "Appeal to my humanity?"

"Actually, I'm planning on threatening you."

"You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no. Threatening. No drink? You sure? Kayla?" Kayla, who still had her shield up, shook her head. "I'm having one."

 _What is Tony thinking? This is no time for a drink._ Kayla thought.

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers."

Kayla raised an eyebrow. Phil had mentioned the Avengers Initiative before, but she thought that idea was scrapped.

Loki looked at him, confused.

"It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. `Earth's mightiest heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God. A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breath-taking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins. Mutant girl over there. And you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Kayla had to give Tony one thing, he sure knew how to make a speech.

Loki slowly walked up to Tony, raising the scepter. "How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?" Loki tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter.

"No!" Kayla yelled as she lowered her shield and ran toward Tony. She stopped when she realized nothing happened.

Confused, Loki tried again. Still, nothing. "It should work."

"Well, performance issues. You know, it's not uncommon…"

In anger, Loki grabbed Tony by the throat and threw him across the room.

"Jarvis. Anytime now." Tony said.

Loki grabbed Tony by the throat again.

"You will all fall before me." Loki threw Tony out the window.

"Tony!" Kayla cried. Tony didn't have his suit on. There was no way he would survive.

From behind Loki, an elevator opened and a red pod shot out. Kayla sighed. Of course Tony would have a plan.

Tony soon appeared with his Iron Man suit on.

"And there's one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil."

Loki raised the scepter. Iron Man fired at Loki, sending him flying to the ground.

Outside, the Tesseract's energy beamed into the sky. The beam formed a vortex, which then opened another portal. The Chitauri army rushed out in flying chariots, carrying energy rifles.

Tony looked up. "Right. Army." He looked down at Kayla. "Kayla-"

"Go, Tony. I'll meet you downstairs."

Iron Man flew up toward the portal as Kayla rushed to the elevator – Loki didn't even try to stop her - and pushed the button to go down. "Come on, come on, come on." Kayla said as the elevator slowly made its way down.

Finally, the elevator stopped at the bottom floor. Kayla didn't wait for the doors to open all the way as she rushed out. The portal hadn't been open for more than five minutes and already Kayla saw the damage they were causing.

 _So it begins._ She thought as she readied herself to fight.


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't long before the quinjet soon appeared. _About time they showed up._ Kayla thought.

"Stark, we're heading north east." Natasha said.

"What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up Park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

"Where's Kayla? Is she all right?" Steve asked.

Kayla couldn't help the smile the appeared on her face. "I'm all right, Steve."

"Wait, he didn't put you under his control?" Clint asked.

"I'll explain about that when we aren't fighting an alien army. Hey wait, when did you come back to being you?"

"I'll explain when we aren't fighting an alien army." Clint echoed her words.

Loki aimed the scepter at the quinjet and fired a blast of energy; the quinjet caught on fire. Kayla watched as the jet crashed to the ground. She quickly made her way over there.

Kayla was soon stopped as a few Chitauri landed in front of her. One of them came at her with the energy rifle. Kayla dodged out of the way, and took out her daggers. He came at her again. She held up her dagger, blocking the energy rifle. Another one was coming for her. Kayla pushed the first one away and rolled to the side. Standing up, she plunged her dagger in his chest, then kicked the other one. She then started running.

From the portal, a Chitauri leviathan flew out. Chitauri soldiers jumped from the leviathan and attached themselves to the sides of the buildings, sliding down. Some crashed into buildings and began firing from their energy rifles at innocent people.

Kayla had stopped as she watched the beast fly above.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked.

"I'm seeing, still working on believing."

"Ditto." Kayla said.

Screaming brought Kayla back. She glanced over and saw a woman being attacked. She ran over and kicked the Chitauri from behind. The Chitauri turned toward her. As soon as he did Kayla plunged both daggers in the side of his neck; the Chitauri fell down.

Kayla looked at the woman. "Get somewhere safe." The woman didn't move, just stared at the dead Chitauri. "Move!" Kayla snapped.

The woman looked at her. She nodded and then took off running. Kayla then continued making her way to the others.

Kayla soon spotted Steve who was giving orders to the cops. One of the cops asked why they should take orders from him. Two Chitauris landed next to Steve; he quickly disposed of them. The cop then turned to the others and started giving the orders Steve had just given him. Kayla shook her head.

"Nice of you to join us." Steve said when he saw Kayla.

"I got held up."

Kayla and Steve fought their way back to the bridge where Natasha and Clint were. Lightning struck a few of the Chitauri and they fell to the ground. Thor soon landed next to the others.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor answered.

"Thor is right. We gotta deal with these guys." Tony said.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team." Steve said.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor said.

"Yeah, get in line." Clint said.

"Save it. Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's going to need us-"

Steve was cut off as the sound of a motorbike was heard. They all glanced over and saw Bruce. Getting off, he looked around the city.

"So, this all seems horrible." Bruce said.

"I've seen worse." Natasha said.

"Sorry."

"No. We could use a little worse."

"Stark? We got him." Steve said.

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Tony said.

Iron Man came out from behind a building; the Chitauri leviathan followed. The group looked up, getting ready.

"I-I don't see how that's a party." Natasha said.

Iron Man swooped down the street. The Chitauri leviathan also swooped down, barreling down the street. Bruce turned.

"Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Steve said.

"That's my secret, Captain." Bruce looked back at Steve. "I'm always angry." He turned back to the leviathan as his body started to swell and stretch., releasing the Hulk. Hulk punched the Chitauri leviathan on the nose. The creature flipped over.

Iron Man, in mid-flight, extended his arm out and a rocket, ready to shoot. Iron Man fired. The rocket hit a soft spot, blowing it up. The group took cover as pieces of the beast rained down. From above on the buildings, the Chitauri army screamed.

"I think we made them angry." Kayla said.

Thousands more of Chitauri soldiers and even more Chitauri leviathans flew out of the portal.

"Guys." Kayla said, pointing up. Everyone glanced up.

"Call it, Cap." Iron Man said.

"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're going to use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash.

"Wanna give me a lift?" Hawkeye asked Tony.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Iron Man lifted Hawkeye up to the building.

"Thor, you've got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor flew up. Steve looked over at Kayla and Natasha. "Us three, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk. Smash."

The Hulk grinned, then jumped up.

Kayla raised her daggers as Chitauri came at her. One aimed his rifle at her. She quickly ducked and swept her feet under him. He fell to the ground and Kayla plunged her dagger in his chest. Kayla glanced up just in time as another one came toward her, swinging the energy rifle. She rolled out of the way.

"Hey Kayla, can you turn invisible." Tony asked.

Kayla dodged as the Chitauri came at her once again. "Invisible? Why would I be able to turn invisible?" Kayla blocked the rifle with her dagger. Using her other dagger, she stabbed the Chitauri in the stomach.

"I take that as a no. It was just a question. Thought it might make things a bit easier, you know? You could sneak up on the enemy."

"Sorry to disappoint."

Screaming turned Kayla's attention to the side of the bridge. Looking down she saw a couple of people surrounded by Chitauri. Kayla jumped down and ran to help. She stabbed one of them in the back. The others noticed her and went to attack. She quickly dodged their attacks, then stabbed them.

Kayla then turned to the people.

"Please, help my daughter. Her leg is stuck."

Kayla looked at the girl, her leg stuck under some concrete. Kayla put her daggers in their holders on her boots. She quickly glanced around for something she could lift the concrete with. Before she could do anything else a crash was heard. Glancing up, Kayla saw part of the building coming down. She quickly put out her hands and created a shield above the girl.

Kayla looked behind her; Steve was still fighting on the bridge. "Steve, I could use your help over here."

Kayla strained to keep her barrier up as the weight of the debris became heavier. When she looked at the girl she was reminded of what happened a year ago. She was in a similar situation. Adam, her friend, was also trapped. His leg was stuck under some rocks. The cave was falling down on them and Kayla had her barrier, protecting them. She tried to keep it up for as long as she could, until help arrived. Thirty minutes had passed and still no one showed up. Kayla was running out of strength. She couldn't…

Kayla shook her head. She would not give up this time. This time help was closer.

"Steve! Get your butt over here and help me!"

Steve was soon by her side. "Sorry. I had to give a friend a lift."

He assessed the situation and went to work lifting the concrete off the girl. Kayla could feel the pressure weighing down on her. Her legs were about to give out, but she wouldn't give up.

Steve finally freed the girl and took her to safety. Now all she had to do was get clear before letting the debris fall. Kayla felt her knees buckle.

"Kayla!"

Steve pulled Kayla back just as she let her barrier down, the debris barely missing her.

"Are you all right?"

Kayla gave a thumbs up.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison, they caught a lot of civilians there." Hawkeye said.

"Go. I'll be fine." Kayla said.

Steve nodded. "I'm on it."

Kayla took a deep breath before standing up. More Chitauri came running toward her, blasting their energy rifles. Kayla held out her hands, deflecting the blasts.

"Sparky, there are people cornered about a block east of you." Hawkeye said.

Kayla gave an annoyed sigh. "I told you never to call me that."

"Sparky? Sounds like there's a story there." Tony said.

Kayla dodged an attack. "There's no story."

"Oh, there's a story." Hawkeye said.

Kayla grabbed her daggers from her boots. As she concentrated her powers, her daggers began to glow blue while giving off small sparks. She thrusted one of her daggers forward, sending out an energy pulse. The Chitauri in front of her went flying back.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Iron Man asked as he flew overhead.

"I'll explain it to you when we aren't fighting to save the world. I feel like I've said something similar before."

Kayla made her way over to where Hawkeye said; a family was cornered. Kayla put her daggers in her boots. She then ran in front of the family, putting up her barrier just as the Chitauri went to attack. She pushed her hands forward, sending her barrier toward the Chitauri and sending them backward.

Kayla turned toward the family. The little girl's eyes were wide. Whether it was from the Chitauri or her powers, she didn't know. "Go, now!" They didn't need to be told twice. The dad grabbed his wife's and daughter's hands and quickly took off running.

Kayla turned her attention back to the Chitauri. One took out what appeared to be a bomb.

"Really?"

The Chitauri threw the bomb; Kayla quickly put her barrier around it. The bomb went off, the force sending Kayla back into the building. Kayla groaned as she tried to get up.

"That's something I never want to do again."

Sitting up, she realized she was surrounded. She went to reach for her daggers, but a shooting pain going up her arm stopped her.

"Guys, I could use some help over here."

The Chitauri raised their weapons. Kayla tried to put up her barrier. It stayed up for a second before fading.

Just as one of the Chitauri was going to attack, the Hulk came crashing down. He grabbed the Chitauri that was going to attack Kayla and threw him. He then attacked the others.

Kayla stood and leaned against the wall.

When the Hulk was done with the Chitauri, he looked back at Kayla.

"Thanks."

He nodded, and then took off.

Kayla took a deep breath, then pushed off against the building. "Back to it."

Kayla had fought her way back to the bridge where Steve and Thor were fighting. She felt like she wasn't getting anywhere. No matter how many Chitauri she knocked down, more just came to take their place.

"I can close it. Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down." Natasha said.

"Do it." Steve said.

"No, wait." Tony said.

"Stark, these things are still coming."

"I got a nuke coming in, it's going to blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?"

Kayla didn't want to think about that. She had already lost her uncle; she didn't want to lose a friend too. Kayla looked up just as Tony flew the missile into the portal.

Soon, all of the Chitauri soldiers and Leviathans shook, then fell to the ground.

"Come on, Tony." Kayla said as she kept her eyes on the portal.

"Close it." Steve said.

Kayla watched as the portal started to close. Relief washed over her when she saw Tony fall through the portal just before it closed.

"Son of a gun."

"He's not slowing down." Thor said as he started to swing Mjolnir. Just as Thor was about to fly up, the Hulk grabbed Iron Man from the air **.** They crashed into a building, slid down, and crashed to the ground. Hulk pushed Iron Man off him. Thor ripped off Tony's helmet.

Tony's eyes were closed, and Kayla feared the worst.

The Hulk yelled, startling Tony awake.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Kayla smiled.

"We won." Steve said.

"All right. Hey. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried Shawarma? There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet." Thor said.

"And then Shawarma after."

The group made their way up to Stark tower where Loki was. Kayla had expected him to be gone, but she saw that it looked like he had a beating.

She glanced at Hulk. "Your handiwork?"

The Hulk nodded.

"Good job."

Loki turned to see everyone prepared to fight him. He must have known he was beat because he said, "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink."

It was a strange time to eat, but after they had tied Loki up they all went to the Shawarma place Tony saw. They kept Loki nearby so they could keep an eye on him.

The man there was nice. His place, and everything around him, had been wrecked, but here he was cleaning up his place. He didn't even complain when they said they wanted food. The man didn't even charge them. He said what they did was payment enough since if weren't for them things would have been a lot worse.

Kayla only took a few bites before deciding she wasn't hungry. She felt more like sleeping than she did eating. A bubble bath sounded nice too. She would definitely be hurting tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Apologies for the long absence. Work became hectic. But now that it has calmed down I am back. I hope you all like this chapter and I promise not to be so long with an update.**

* * *

Kayla sat in the corner of the room, throwing darts at the wall. After Thor took Loki back to Asgard, the Avengers went their separate ways. It had been a few weeks since she had spoken to them, spoken to anyone really. She had called the Dean of the school and explained about her uncle and he gave her some time off.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to go back to teaching. Not everyone at the school knew she had powers, but now everyone knew now. It was stupid to think she could hide her powers forever.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. She threw the dart she had in her hand and stood up. As she passed the table she grabbed her dagger. She was in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Who would be knocking on her door?

Raising her dagger, Kayla opened the door.

"Expecting someone?"

Kayla sighed as she lowered her dagger. "Director Fury, what are you doing here?" Kayla walked inside.

"Checking on you." Fury said as he followed her in.

"I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

Fury glanced at the wall with the many darts sticking out of it. "I see that." He looked back at Kayla. "You have a habit of distancing yourself from people when you lose someone close to you."

Kayla shrugged. "We all have our own ways of coping." Kayla sat on the stool.

"I know how you get when you're alone and grieving."

Kayla said nothing.

"I brought some of your uncle's things." Fury said as he placed the box he was carrying on the table. "I thought you might like to have them."

"Thanks."

"Kayla, don't be alone forever."

"In case you haven't noticed I have no one. My parents are gone. The only boyfriend I had, gone. My uncle...gone. I have no other family."

Fury sighed. "Kayla, you're a very smart person, but sometimes you can be stupid."

"Excuse me?"

Fury smiled as he turned away. He opened the door, but before walking out he looked back at Kayla. "You know, when your uncle told me he thought you would make a good addition to the team he wasn't talking about being an agent just to bring in Loki. He thought you'd make a good Avenger." With that, Fury left closing the door behind him.

Kayla sat stunned. Not only did Fury call her stupid, but he also said that she was an Avenger. Why would they ever consider her?

Kayla glanced at the box Fury had left. Kayla stared at the box as if it were a bomb, ready to explode at any moment. Her hands hovered over the lid. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the lid.

What Kayla saw in the box made her want to smile and cry at the same time. There were many pictures of her and Phil together. She picked up one. It was when she was about five; she was dressed as Captain America. She smiled at the memory. It was Halloween and Phil was taking her trick-or-treating. She couldn't remember if dressing as Captain America was her idea or if it her uncle's.

She put the picture aside as she shifted through the other contents of the box. Kayla stopped when she saw the Captain America trading cards. She stared at them for a moment before quickly putting the lid back on.

Why was everyone she cared about taken from her? Before she could dwell much on that, there was a knock at the door. Kayla gave an annoyed sigh. It was probably Fury again. Why he would be back so soon though was beyond her.

Kayla stood and made her way to the door. "Director, you aren't going to…" she opened the door "Steve? Um…wh-what are you…how did you know where to find me?"

"Fury."

"Of course." Kayla went to sit on her stool. Steve took that as an invitation to come in "What part of seclusion do people not understand?"

"I was worried about you."

"I'm a tough girl. I can handle myself."

"I don't doubt that. But you did just lose your uncle."

Kayla said nothing as she stood and walked around the table to the other side.

"So, is this a Shield safe house?"

"No. It belonged to my parents. We used to come here just to get away. It's the one place I've always felt safe. Fury makes sure this place stays in good condition."

"That's nice of him."

Kayla shrugged.

Steve glanced around. His eyes landed on a kid's drawing of a panda. In the bottom right corner were the words drawn by Olivia. "Who's Olivia?"

Kayla glanced up. "Someone who died a long time ago."

Steve looked over at her. "I'm sorry."

"All right, so, you saw me. You know I'm fine."

"Why do I get the feeling you are trying to kick me out?"

"It's not that I'm not happy to see you. I am, really. I just want to be alone."

"And I will respect that. Can I just show you something first?"

"What is it?"

"You will have to come and see." Steve said as he made his way out the door.

Kayla just stood there for a minute. Finally, she followed Steve out.

"This place really is out of the way." Steve said as the two of them made their way through the trees.

"That is what I like about it. Though I have been having a lot of visitors for being so far out here."

"Everyone is just worried about you, Kayla."

Kayla said nothing.

After a few minutes of silence the two of them finally walked into a clearing where a jet was.

"Finally. I was beginning to wonder if I should come and get you two."

Kayla looked up and saw Clint standing at the top of the jet.

"So, you two decided to come all the way out here to check on me? Kayla asked. "I am fine. Really."

"Who said it was just us two?" Clint walked back into the jet.

Kayla glanced over at Steve who motioned for her to go in. The two of them then made their way up the ramp and into the jet. When Kayla walked in the jet she was surprised to see Natasha, Bruce, and Tony.

"Why do I feel like this is an intervention?" Kayla asked.

"Kayla, I know what you do when you lose someone close to you and I was worried you would do that again." Clint said.

"Well, as you can see I am not going out and picking fights. I'm fine. You can go."

"That can't be a healthy way to cope." Bruce said.

"It helps."

"Wouldn't being with family and friends help more?" Steve asked.

"You've always thought you were alone, Kayla, and had no one, but that's not true." Clint said.

Kayla looked at everyone and she finally realized what Fury meant; what Clint was trying to tell her.

"You guys came all the way out here for me." Kayla said more to herself. A faint smile appeared on her face. "You're right, I'm not alone."

"And she finally gets it." Tony said.

"So, I am a bit slow."

"All right, now that that is all settled what do you say we go back to the Avengers tower?"

"I take it Stark tower is now our base of operations?"

"And home."

Kayla smiled. "Oh, let me go grab my daggers first." Kayla took a step off the jet, but Steve spoke up first.

"What is the deal with the daggers?" He asked.

Kayla looked back at him. "A professor of mine gave them to me." She then took off running.

It did not take her long to get back to the cabin. She grabbed her daggers and strapped them to her boots. She then quickly put some clothes in her bag and was ready to head back to the jet. Before she walked out the door, she glanced over at the box. After a bit of hesitation, she grabbed it, then ran back to the jet. Once she was on, Tony took off.

"So, now that we are not in a life and death situation anymore and trying to save the world, I have a question." Tony said as he put the jet on auto pilot and turned toward Kayla, "What is the story behind the name Sparky?"

Kayla groaned. "We are not going to tell that. I was hoping you would have forgotten."

"I don't forget stuff."

"I don't mind telling it." Clint said, which earned him a glare from Kayla.

"I am curious about it as well." Bruce said.

"Come on, Kayla. It is an interesting story." Natasha said.

Kayla sighed in defeat. "Fine."

"All right, so this is mine and Kayla's first mission together." Clint began.

"I should mention that Clint did not know I was a mutant." Kayla added.

"It was supposed to be an easy mission. We were just supposed to get intel and get out. Getting in, that was the easy part. By the time we got what we needed more people showed up and getting out became complicated."

"Long story short," Kayla said. "we were spotted and started running to get out of the building. We eventually did make it outside, but more were waiting for us so a fight ensured."

"There was a generator a few feet from us. I thought if we could hit that then it would explode and give us a chance to escape except the bad guys weren't making it easy for me."

"I had a clear shot of the generator if I used my powers. It took me a while to actually get the courage to put my plan in motion because that would mean exposing my powers and I wasn't sure how Clint would react."

"I knew she was hesitating about something. I actually thought she was inexperienced and was going to get us killed."

Kayla couldn't help but laugh a little. "Yeah, he asked me how many missions have I been on. How much training I've had. Who I trained with."

"And she asked if I was conducting an interview. When I said no she then told me to shut up and if I had any concerns regarding her experience to take it up with Fury. I glanced over at Kayla and noticed her doing something with her daggers. They were giving off these sparks. She then sent out an energy pulse, knocking the rest of the bad guys and taking out the generator."

"And that is when he found out I was a mutant. I didn't look at him for a while, afraid he would hate me. All he said though was that was awesome."

"So, because her daggers were giving off sparks I decided to call her Sparky. Also, when she gets-"

Kayla quickly jumped over to Clint and covered his mouth. "And that's enough story telling." Kayla gave him a look; Clint shrugged in defeat.

"Wait, I want to hear that last bit." Tony said.

"No, you don't."

"How are you able to send out energy?" Bruce asked.

"My shield is made from energy so I can just focus that energy and send it out in a blast."

"I'm assuming you can send a blast through your hand." Tony said. "I've seen you deflect attacks. Why use the daggers?"

"Does it hurt to send a blast using your hand?" Steve asked.

"It used to when I first realized I could do that. Even now my hands tingle sometimes. It's just easier to channel my energy through an object. Anyway, time to change the subject."

Kayla was grateful when Steve had changed the conversation to something other than superpowers and saving the world. And for the first time in a while Kayla didn't feel so alone.

When they finally arrived at Stark Tower, Kayla noticed that it was no longer damaged. Tony hadn't wasted anytime in getting it repaired.

Once they landed, Steve went to help Kayla with her things and grabbed the box. Kayla quickly stood and took the box from him.

"I'll take this. You can take my bag if you really want to help."

"Ok."

Kayla had expected Steve to ask why she didn't want him carrying the box but luckily, he didn't. These were her uncle's things and as silly as it sounded, she didn't want anyone to take them.

As soon as Kayla walked inside, she was greeted by a woman with red hair. "You must be Kayla. I'm Pepper." She held out her hand.

Kayla shook her hand. "Yep, that's me. So, uh…" Kayla tried to think of how to phrase her question without coming off as rude. "What do you do?"

"I run Stark Industries."

"Tony couldn't handle the responsibilities, huh?"

"Hey, a lot was happening when I passed the company to her." Tony defended.

"Huh-uh. Excuses, excuses."

"She's also my girlfriend."

"You found someone who can actually put up with you? Don't let her go, Tony."

"I'll show you to your room." Pepper said. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want."

"Thanks, Pepper."

Once Pepper showed Kayla her room, she left so Kayla could get settled. Kayla put the box on the bed and looked around. It was just a basic room with a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. Kayla was fine with it; she didn't need much.

Kayla walked back out where the others were and stood there for a moment, watching them talk with each other. She was lucky to have friends like them who cared for her and she couldn't wait to see what life had in store for them next.


	8. Chapter 8

The first night at Stark Tower…well, they were now calling it the Avengers tower, Kayla had a hard time sleeping. There were so many things going through her head that she was starting to wish there was an off button. She had spent the last few hours tossing and turning before finally sitting up. She had tried reading, but her mind would not focus on the words. She must have read the same sentence at least a dozen times. Finally, she decided to go get a drink and maybe a snack.

Kayla quietly made her way to the kitchen, making sure she didn't make a lot of noise and wake people up. When she got to the kitchen, however, she saw that she was not the only one up for a midnight snack.

"You couldn't sleep either?" She asked as she sat down.

"No." Bruce answered. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Me too."

Bruce pushed a bag of M&Ms toward Kayla. Kayla took the bag, shook some candy in to her hand then popped some in her mouth.

"So, what's keeping you up?" Bruce asked.

"Well, to start with I'm in a new place. I always have a hard time sleeping in new places. And my head won't shut up between thinking about my uncle and…and other things."

Bruce nodded.

A comfortable silence fell between them as they were both caught up in their own thoughts. Kayla wondered what her uncle would say about her staying here. She wondered about a lot of things that she wanted to tell him, but now she would never be able to talk to him again.

Before the tears could start falling, Kayla stood up. "So, what does Tony have in here to eat?"

"I have a craving for pancakes." Someone said.

Both Kayla and Bruce turned to see Clint walk in.

"What, you can't sleep either?" Kayla asked.

"I just woke up with a craving for pancakes."

Kayla shook her head.

Bruce looked through the cabinets. When he found pancake mix he took it out and showed it to the other two. "I did find pancake mix."

"Yes." Clint said as he took the box from Bruce. "I'll make some pancakes."

"There are eggs in here." Kayla said as she had her head in the fridge. "Should I make some eggs to go with the pancakes?"

"Sure."

"You're really making pancakes and eggs at two in the morning?" Bruce asked.

"Why not?" Kayla said, grabbing the eggs from the refrigerator. She then began her search for a bowl and a pan which didn't take long to find.

While Clint and Kayla were fixing the pancakes and eggs, Bruce sat down while he watched. Clint had taken out his own pan, but in the process of taking it out of the cupboard he knocked another pan over with a loud crash.

"Shh." Kayla said. "We don't want to wake anyone up."

"Why not? Maybe we should blast some music." Clint said.

"And have Natasha try to kill us? No thank you."

Clint and Kayla began mixing and making their own breakfast items. "Oh, does Tony have cinnamon?" Kayla asked as she searched the cupboards. She soon found what she was looking for. She had to stand on her tip-toes to reach it and as she went to grab the cinnamon out of the cupboard, she knocked down another spice.

"Now who is being loud?" Clint asked.

Kayla shoved him. "Shut up."

"This is great." Bruce said. "It's like dinner and a show."

Kayla turned around and stuck her tongue out at Bruce. It was then she noticed someone else had come out.

"Do I even want to know what you guys are doing?" Steve asked.

"Just making a midnight snack." Kayla said as she turned her attention back to what she was doing.

Steve sat down next to Bruce.

"What are you doing up?" Bruce asked.

"I came to see what all the noise was."

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." Kayla said.

"We're making pancakes and eggs." Clint said as he looked over at Steve. "Do you want some?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Oh, you guys aren't allergic to cinnamon, are you?" Kayla asked as she glanced back at Bruce and Steve.

"No." They both answered.

"Are you putting cinnamon in the eggs?" Steve asked.

"No, don't be silly. I'm putting them in the pancakes." She then sprinkled the cinnamon in the pancake mix.

As Clint and Kayla were fixing their pancakes and eggs, the four of them talked about random things. Sometimes they would get a bit loud and glance down the hall to see if they had woken anyone else up.

"We should just wake up the others." Clint said.

"Again, no. Natasha is a grump when she is woken up." Kayla said.

"Yes, I am."

Everyone turned to see Natasha standing there.

"Now, who was the one making all the noise that woke me up?"

Kayla hid behind Clint while pointing to him and mouthing, "It was him."

Clint pushed her away. "Do not blame this all on me. You were making noise too."

"Not as much as you were with the pans."

"You were still making noise."

"You are both making noise." Natasha said. She went and joined Steve and Bruce. "So, what is everyone doing up at two in the morning?"

"Making pancakes." Clint said.

"And eggs." Kayla added.

"And we're watching." Bruce said.

"Did you all get a craving for breakfast?" Natasha asked.

"Well, I was up first." Bruce said. "Kayla came in looking for something to snack on."

"And then Clint came in and said he was craving pancakes so I decided to make eggs to go with them" Kayla said. "Should we wake Tony up? Everyone else is up. Does anyone know if he's a grump when he's woken up?" Kayla looked around at everyone.

"Well, he can be an ass when he's awake so he may be an ass when he's woken up." Natasha said.

"I feel like being mean to Tony. I want to wake him up, but I don't want to wake Pepper."

"Now I know how I rate."

Kayla turned. "Oh, hey, Tony."

Tony looked around at everyone and then at the mess Clint and Kayla were making. "Who said you could make a mess out of my kitchen?"

"Well, you did say make yourself at home so really it's your fault."

"Ok, I suppose that's true."

Tony sat with the others while Kayla and Clint finished making their breakfast. Once everything was finished, the two cooks put the food on the table. Kayla grabbed the butter and syrup while Clint took out the plates and forks.

As everyone was putting food on their plates, Tony stood up. "You know what's missing?" He went to the refrigerator and took something out. "Ketchup."

"You're one of those people who put ketchup on their eggs?" Kayla asked. "That's gross."

"Doesn't everybody?"

"No." Everyone answered; Tony shrugged as he sat back down.

"Kayla." Tony said. Kayla looked over at Tony who was holding his fork out with eggs covered in ketchup. "Try it."

"Ew, no."

"You might like it."

"Eggs and ketchup do not go together."

Tony went to move his fork closer to Kayla, but Kayla instantly put up her shield.

"Hey, no fair using powers."

"When was that decided?"

"You will come over to my side, Kayla, and then you'll see that you were wrong." He took a bite of his eggs. "Mmmm."

Kayla scoffed. "I doubt that."

As the group ate, Kayla smiled as she thought about how lucky she was. She had thought she lost everyone and had no one left. Looking around, she knew she was wrong. In a short time, the Avengers had become her close friends.

* * *

 **Yeah, this one was more of a filler chapter, but I had a lot of fun writing it. I have great plans in the upcoming chapters that I hope you all will enjoy.**


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